The changes in gene expression in the vHip significantly altered 22 biological pathways (Table 3). Most of the genes differentially expressed in these pathways had decreased expression in the binge-drinking animals. Many of these pathways contain sets of overlapping genes, and in some cases may have related functions such as inflammation. Hierarchical clustering based on the differentially expressed genes within the pathways identified groups of related pathways, highlighted in Table 3. Axonal Guidance is affected, with most genes (including Tuba4a, Plxd1, Plxb3, Shank2, Mmp9 and Sema3c) expressed at lower levels (Tables 2, 3). Wnt/β-catenin signaling is the most significant pathway, and is clustered with 2 cancer related pathways, 2 rheumatoid arthritis pathways and regulation of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition; these all share Tcf7l2, Axin1, Tcf4 and Gsk3b (Tables 2, 3). The Wnt/β catenin pathway is decreased, with most of the affected genes having lower expression. A second cluster of pathways includes synaptic long term potentiation (LTP) and several signaling pathways, including those related to dopamine regulation of cAMP signaling and nNOS; these pathways also show reduced activity. Very closely related to
